Penn State Football: James Franklin Rutgers Week Press Conference Recap

Sep 6, 2014; University Park, PA, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin during the fourth quarter against the Akron Zips at Beaver Stadium. Penn State defeated Akron 21-3. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O’Haren- USA TODAY Sports

We are smack in the middle of another Penn State football week. While most of the news would normally be focused on Rutgers, the upcoming opponent, this week is defininitly different. When the NCAA announced on Monday that Penn State would become eligible for postseason play immediately all other topics took a back seat. In the middle of everything, head coach James Franklin still found time for his weekly chat with the media.

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Franklin didn’t say much about Monday’s news, other than to say that his team talked about it for a bit, but then got back to preparing for the Scarlet Knights. He did answer some questions about the sanctions being reduced later in the press conference.

Even though Saturday’s matchup is the first conference game of the year, and the Nittany Lions can now compete for the Big Ten, Franklin emphasized that the preparation has been the same.

"“Our approach to this game is going to be exactly the same as it was for Central Florida, exactly the same way it was for Akron. It will not change,” Franklin said. “We are just as motivated in this game as we were for Akron and we are just as motivated for this game as we were for Central Florida. Our approach will not change.”"

As we get ready for the game in New Jersey, below you will find some highlights of Franklin’s weekly press conference.

You talked (last Saturday) about your gut reaction that you felt you needed to play more guys. Who are some guys that need to play more?

JF: I think it’s really the young guys we’re talking about. Grant Haley has played a decent amount. We’d like for him to play more. Marcus Allen is a guy that’s playing on special teams. I think he needs to have a bigger role on defense and continue to help in that development and also keep our guys fresh for fourth quarters ‑‑ for the fourth quarter and also late in the season.

And then I think you could also take a look on offense, we have to continue the development. We have to continue the development of Saeed Blacknall and (Chris) Godwin and their development. I think that’s going to be important.

And Mike Gesicki. And the other guy that probably you’re going to see that’s going to play in this game that has not played yet is Christian Campbell on special teams and hopefully his role on defense will develop, as well.

Possibly a lot of motivation for Rutgers, night game, hostile environment, a lot of noise. Do you do anything specifically to coach the guys to prepare for that or anything in practice to duplicate that environment?

JF: Again, I just want to make sure everybody is clear: Our approach to this game is going to be exactly the same as it was for Central Florida, exactly the same way it was for Akron. It will not change. We are just as motivated in this game as we were for Akron and we are just as motivated for this game as we were for Central Florida. Our approach will not change.

The one thing that we may do is that when we are playing on the road, the noise will be a different factor in the game so we are going to have to have more noise in practice to get our guys prepared for that so that will probably be the one difference.

But I learned a few years ago, I made that mistake where I waited until an away game to work on noise in practice and it was too late, so we started with our silent counts and implementing noise into practice from the very first day of camp. That’s been a part of what we’ve done since the very first day of camp. Will it be emphasized a little bit more this week in practice? Yeah, there’s no doubt, especially with the new rule change in college football that you can have artificial noise in the stadium up until the snap is imminent.

I think we all noticed that in our stadium; that’s a change in college football that you can have music and other things going until the snap is imminent. So we are going to get our guys prepared for that but it won’t be until it’s imminent. It will be the whole time. We’ll have rock, country, rap, hip‑hop. It will be a very club‑like atmosphere at practice this week.

I’m sure you’ve seen that probably the Rutgers coach and PA announcer are not saying “Penn State.” They are saying, “the school in Pennsylvania” or whatever they are saying. Do you see that as something you’re going to have fun with, or is that offensive to you? Do you have any stories like that in terms of a big rival, funny stories like that?

JF: Well, first of all, I really, really like and respect Kyle Flood. Second of all, I think we are a school in Pennsylvania, I think. So it just describes us. We are a school in Pennsylvania (laughter)

So, no, I’m good about it. And again, I really like Kyle and I think I have a good relationship with him. I do think this game from a regional perspective is good for Pennsylvania.

I do think it’s good for New Jersey and I think it’s good for the Big Ten and I think it’s good for both institutions. I think it’s going to be a fun game and we’re looking forward to playing it. But we have got tremendous respect for Rutgers, for what they have done on the football field and what they have done in the classroom.

As you guys know, I spend a lot of time studying best practices of what people do well and there’s a lot of really good things that Rutgers does. So, am looking forward to playing the game.

You have gotten some scholarships back, wondering how much could it realistically impact your class of 2015, or is this something you may not see the impact of until later?

JF: Yeah, it will have an impact on this class, there’s no doubt about that. I don’t know if it will be as big of an impact as some people may think but we’ll get a few more scholarships. The other thing that’s being reported, that we’re going to be able to get to 85. I’m still working through that to see how we’re going to be able to do that, be able to get to the 85.

So that’s one of the ‑‑ a couple things we’re working through right now to make sure we completely understand, because it’s never clean as everything thinks it is, as black and white as it’s reported. There’s a lot more specifics and details that go into, so we are trying to work through that right now.

It will have an impact on this class. If it gives us the ability to get to the 85, I’m not sure of yet.

I don’t know if you had a chance to see the scene last night downtown; what was your reaction to seeing all of that, if you saw it?

JF: Well, first of all, we were game planning. We were in what we call our submarine. So we were watching film and coming up with game plans and tendencies and down‑and‑distance situations and things like that.

But I was aware of what was going on and I think there’s great ‑‑ I think it’s great to have excitement and enthusiasm and I think it’s great that it shows how much people care. I think it’s part of the education process, as well, because you can go out and you can enjoy yourself with others. We just have to do it the right way. We’ve just got to make sure that nobody is injured and we’ve got to make sure that nothing is damaged and that people are being respectful.

But there is enthusiasm and there is excitement and there is tremendous pride in this school and part of the healing that’s taking place and moving forward. I think this is part of it. So, whenever you’re dealing with a large group of college students and they are excited, you just always are hopeful that they are doing it the right way. From most of the things that I’ve read, it was that.

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